"When Jan sees me being put through the wringer, she worries. And I do listen to her. She did say at one time, ‘Why not take a year out? You have been going for 40 years now. Take some time out and let’s go do the things we want to do’.

"But Jan, the way she is, also said, ‘It has to be your decision, at the end of the day you have to make that call’. And the lure of the Premier League was just too great."

However, Bruce says the chance to test his skills at the top level against some of the game's greatest manager was too great an opportunity to turn down.

"We work all our life to get to this level, the best league in the world," he continued.

"There are only 20 of us [managing in the Premier League] at any one time, and four or five British ones. I am one of them.

"It is hard to walk away from the Premier League with [Liverpool manager Jurgen] Klopp here along with [Manchester City manager Pep] Guardiola and [Chelsea boss Jose] Mourinho.

"I thought to myself, ‘Steve, you can take little Hull to these places and try to compete…’. Having thought about that, I just couldn’t walk away.'

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